mcchane1

On 10/6/2016 at 9:57 PM, JessyCruises said:

Does anyone have any experience with Andy Cruickshank? He will be the Schooner performer for our Nov 26 2016 Freedom sailing. I have not been able to find out anything about him from the internet. Apparently James Brown is the pub act.

Super old post but what’s your opinion on Andy?

This is a pretty old thread but if anyone wants to share the current Schooner bar players on their sailings I’d appreciate it. I have a Facebook group for the Schoomer bar and searching for info to keep it up to date. 

Does anyone know the email for the Freedom of the SEas suite concierge?

Does anyone know if the bed in the royal suite can be split into 2 twins or if it is a true king?

We are traveling with a group of 7. I am wanting to give each person a gift bag with a few little things they may like or use on the cruise. If it matters ages are 74, 57, 56, 49, 20, 19, 18. 

Any ideas?

I have an option of 11am flight out of FLL. Seriously good idea or not.  On Indy March 7-12

1 hour ago, Merion_Mom said:

It always helps if you have TSA pre-check.

We do have precheck

We generally take our time getting home from our cruises but hubby has a new job and can take limited time off. I hate stressing but is an 11:15 flight out of FLL from Port Everglades to early

Is there a deck plan somewhere that shows the bedding configuration for each room. We are in 5166 and my granddaughter is excited about the upper hearth and now I’m being told it might not have one. Any way to find this out. 

Jennie is in the concierge on the Indy until dry dock then she is going to the Harmony to be with her husband. She said the new concierge was going to be “Junior” , not sure who that is.

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I did forget on Wednesday night after the concert we stayed for the Love and Marriage game which is always a fun time.

I was disappointed that they did not have Quest and Jennie in the concierge says she hasn’t seen it for a while so maybe it’s a thing of the past :(

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Thursday

Day 4 Falmouth, Jamaica

We did not book any excursions so we slept in, leisurely breakfast in the windjammer. We went ashore for a couple photo ops and a little shopping for souvenirs in the port area. I got a hair wrap in the braiding store and then back to the ship.

It was mid afternoon and we wanted something to eat but not to much to ruin dinner so we ordered a couple things from room service and shared them. We just hung out in the cabin until time to sail. We then went to deck 11 to watch the late people running for the ship. We were in port with the Liberty so there were a lot of people still there when we left but I don’t think we left anyone behind.

After that was time for dinner and again following our routine to the concierge lounge until it was time for the production of Grease. Grease was good and everyone enjoyed it.

Some went back to the cabin for the night but hubby, myself our son and my niece went to the promenade for the 70’s and 80’s street party. It was fun and my niece did a lot of dancing. As it got over and we were about to head to the solarium where the party continued I heard “Journey” coming from the Dog and Badger. We wandered over there to see Absolute Journey had taken over the stage for a couple of songs. The entire bar was singing with them.

We then headed to the party in the Solarium but we couldn’t get in because we had a 17 yr old with us. Looked like a lot of fun though.

Following tradition we headed to Olive or Twist for a nightcap. While we were there Absolute Journey showed up and took over the stage there for a couple songs. Again the crowd was in full participation.

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Wednesday

Day 3 is Labadee. The past 2 ships (I think the Harmony and maybe Allure,not sure)had missed this port due to swells. Captain Teo had told us on Tuesday he was unsure if we would make it or not. Well I awoke to the vibration of the engines as we were pulling into to port. Yayyyy we made it.

Again boring family here.....we hopped on the “suite limo” and off to barefoot beach. We grabbed floatie mats and headed to the water. We hung out on the beach, swam, ate lunch and drank a couple Labadoozies. Headed back to the ship around 2pm. Relaxed in our cabin and got ready for dinner.

Following our daily routine we were off to dinner and then to the concierge lounge for a couple hours until the evening show. Tonight was Absolute Journey a Journey cover band. They put on a great show

Then off to Olive or Twist for a nightcap and to bed.

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Tuesday

We are not the most exciting family, we go to relax, therefore we don’t participate in many activities.

After breakfast in the windjammer we opted to soak up some rays on the pool deck.

Other than soaking up the sun, sipping a frozen cocktail and wandering the ship a bit day two was uneventful. We did attend the ice skating show Freeze Frame, nice show. I liked it more than Strings we saw last year.

We had early seating for the dining room so off to the cabin so everyone could shower and get ready for dinner. Night two is formal night. While the guys didn’t want to wear suits we did try to comply with the dress code to some extent.

After dinner we went to the concierge lounge where we met up with our favorite bartender JoJo. This is our 3rd cruise that we have had him as a bartender and he is awesome. Finally got to chat with Jennie a bit and she is very nice and a lot of fun too. Me a few other suite guest and shared some stories.

We then were off to the production show Invitation to Dance. I have seen it before but the others haven’t. It’s a good, high energy show featuring the singers, dancer and orchestra.

Typical end to a day...wandering the bars for a few cocktails.

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I don’t have a lot of pictures but here are some from precruise and day 1

Our view of the ship from the hotel

Suite waiting area at the port

Pool deck before the crowd finds it

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Monday continues

We boarded on deck 4. Wandered the ship a bit and then had lunch in the windjammer. Windjammer was typical buffet food. Nothing to die for but edible.

We went back to the cabin to wait for our luggage. Not sure what time it finally arrive but seemed like we waited a long time. We did finally get our bags. Unpacked and put the empties under the bed. Our steward (who is nameless) came in and checked on us. We needed some beds moved and upper Berths lowered. We also needed the connecting door between the Royal Family Suite and the balcony cabin opened. Then it was time for muster. After enduring muster drill we went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner and watch sail away from our balcony.

My sister and me went up to the concierge lounge to get the kids seapass cards changed to gold so they could have suite benefits since they were minors in a room connecting to the suite. The concierge lounge was super busy and Jennie was busy answering a ton of questions to one family. We decided we couldn’t wait any longer and got up to leave, Jennie then stopped us and asked what we needed. (I had emailed her prior to arriving about the kids accompanying us to suite only areas and she was the one that said to see her and she would change their cards to gold. ) I quickly told her who I was and why I was there, she took the kids seapasses and said she would bring the new ones to the dining room.

We then were off to the dining room for our first dinner. We had an oval table for 8, near but not next to a window. This is what I had requested precruise and it was perfect! Our wait staff was amazing. The menus are new compared to the ones we had last year. There are a few less choices and appetizers, entrees and desserts are all ordered at once now. I know some don’t like this but I found it nice. Food was good, nothing to die for but good. We opted to go pretty casual since we knew most anything goes the first night.

After dinner we were off to the theater for the welcome aboard show with our cruise director Simonia. She was pleasant and show featured the singers and dancers, the orchestra and a comedian Andy Woodhull. Was a nice potpourri of entertainment and a little info.

Some more ship wandering and some cocktail will bring a successful day 1 to a close.

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Monday:

Everyone woke up refreshed after a peaceful night of sleep. We all kind of did our own thing getting ready to go. I walked a couple blocks down 17th Street to get Starbucks before breakfast. In no particular order everyone had breakfast, showered and packed up to meet in the lobby for our 10:15 ride to the port.

Just as promptly as he picked us up at the airport we had the same Larry’s Limo pick us to go to the port. We took the short ride to the port where he unloaded our bags and the porters loaded them on their carts.

We then went directly to the door marked “suites”. No one was in line so we walked right to the desk clerk. We all got our pictures taken and received our sea pass cards. We had booked the 6 adults in the suite and the 2 teenagers in the connecting balcony cabin(not how we slept but more on that later). We were then directed upstairs to the suite waiting area. It was a short wait before we were allowed to board.

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I’ve never really done much of a review before but I’m going to give it a whirl. It will probably be somewhat abbreviated because I’m not the best at writing lengthy detailed stories.

Our family this trip consisted of myself and hubby, our adult son,my mom(first cruise ever), my sister and her boyfriend and my sisters 2 teen kids(17 yr old girl and 16 yr old boy)

Sunday:

Our first day started out bright and early with a 6am flight out of Moline,IL. We met at the airport since we are all close but from different directions. We had an uneventful flight to Atlanta, 2 hr layover and then another typical flight to Fort Lauderdale

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale about 30 minuets early and I figured we had a little time to kill to wait for Larry’s Limo to pick us up since we were early. Not the case, barely off the plane when our driver called and said he was there and I should call him back once we got our luggage and he would come and pick us up.

We proceeded to the carousel and gathered our bags and called the driver back. He told me where he was parked and we walked a very short walk to the van, loaded up and we were off to the Embassy Suite s.

Arrived at the Embassy Suites around 1:30. I had already checked us in via the app and had selected 3 rooms relatively close together on the 9th floor facing the port. Upon arrival only 1 room was ready, they offered other rooms that where ready but we chose to keep our selections and just wait.

We took all of our luggage up to the one room that was ready and then decided to get something to eat since we had only had a snack in the airport in Atlanta. We followed our tradition and chose to go to Duffy’s Sports bar. It’s simple good food and we like it.

After eating we went back to the hotel and the other rooms were ready. Everyone settled in a bit and then we went to the bar for a couple complimentary cocktails.

After a fairly long day of travel we all went to bed pretty early to get rested up for the cruise.

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Jennie is in the concierge, I am unsure who is in the Diamond lounge, I am not Diamond status.

Jojo is a bar tender In The concierge and solarium bar, we met him 3 yrs ago and this is our 3rd cruise with him.

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Some rough seas due to the Nor’easter. Captain was unsure if we would be able to dock in Labadee tomorrow. :(

Have to say we have a less than stellar cabin steward but over all everything is enjoyable.

Jennie and JoJo in the concierge lounge are great.

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THE NEW INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEAS[emoji768]

FORT LAUDERDALE ● FALL 2018

THIS IS A FIRM "NO" TO FOMO

Independence of the Seas[emoji768] returns stateside this fall to give the Caribbean an injection of all new adventures for a limited time only. Launch yourself into a virtual world on a new bungee trampoline experience — Sky Pad℠. Order up batter fried goodness at the new poolside Fish & Ships℠ seafood spot. Ditch the winter blahs for an amped up ship teeming with oohs and ahhs. Sailing Western Caribbean adventures from Fort Lauderdale starting this November. Come Seek the Royal Caribbean

I received an email with the above info. Was curious if anyone knew what the limited time was. Maybe Indy will not be returning to us after 2019???? Thoughts????

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We will be on the Indy next Monday. Maybe I will see you.

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I called and downgraded and did not loose my deposit.

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I am booked in a grand suite for a cruise that’s a year away. There are so other people that are now going with us that will not have a suite so I want to down grade from the grand suite to a junior suite. Same ship, same sail date. Will I forfeit the $100 pp deposit?

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Is Jennie in the CL or DL. Previous information had her taking over DL. But your email indicates she is in the Concierge Lounge.

 

 

 

If she is in the CL, wonder who is in the DL?

I will know more when I’m there next week but as of now all I know for certain is she is the one sending the welcome email. I actually replied to her welcome email with a request and her answer said “see me when you board”

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